Council Meeting - Recycling, Hay Market and the Council Chamber

The Fair on the Square, for the Festival, has asked the Recycling Fund for £250. This is what they got last year, so it was granted, but this led to a discussion about the recycling facilities at the bottom of the car park. Less recycling is being collected there, because of kerbside collections (I don't need to rattle down there with a trolley full of bottles now - I can just put them out for the bin men to recycle). However, the cardboard container is frequently full to overflowing, and isn't emptied often enough. Both these things mean that the Council gets less income from the recycling than it otherwise would. Apparently, the people in charge of the recycling at the car park have been "trying to source" a new container for the cardboard for three months now.

Meanwhile, Hay Market may have found a suitable space to store the stalls - as long as they mend the roof. There are sheds at the back of the Council Chambers which are unused at the moment and need attention - so a deal is going to be worked out.
Down by the Clock Tower, on Market days, some of the stalls need electricity. Rob Golesworthy supplies electricity for some stalls - they just run a cable into the shop, and Rob doesn't charge for it. What's suggested, though, is that there should be a power point on the other side of the road, as part of the refurbishment of the toilets. However, the Council did feel a need to charge for this, and this could be done by having a sub-meter to moniter how much electricity the stalls use. The Market would pay for the installation of the power point.

Two people have applied to rent the empty room at the Council Chambers. One of them also wants to use the Council Chamber itself as an exhibition space over the Festival. They're involved in making water purifying systems as part of art works, for developing nations. The Council wasn't opposed to the idea in principle, but thought it was a bit short notice for this year. They will also be painting - there is a store room with a sky light, which is narrow, but has good light, and they will be offered this to see if it is suitable.
The other applicant for the vacant room is a local business, and the lady would be working with Maggie, who already rents a room in the building, so this was felt to be more beneficial to the local area.

Later in the meeting, a request came up from a new charity for ex-servicemen, Change Step. They would like the use of a room, quite small, for one to one chats, with tea and coffee making facilities, for a few hours once a month, maybe increasing to once a fortnight. There's a room available downstairs, so they'll be offered that at a small charge.

While on the subject of the Council Chambers, the problem of asbestos came up - Fiona Howard pointed out that they have to have an asbestos officer at the school, so that when contractors come in to do any work, they are made aware of where there is asbestos in the building. She said it's not difficult, and there is training - they just need a record to show that everyone is aware of what to do and where the asbestos is. This should also be done in the toilets now they are coming under Town Council control.